Hydration and Inflammation

One of the most common
factors involved in keeping the body healthy is keeping it hydrated. While it
seems logical that a body which is made up of approximately 70% water would
need water to be healthy and strong, this is often overlooked by both individuals
and the medical community as a whole.

Inflammation is one of the
body’s first indicators that there is something wrong. Yet, the link between
proper hydration and inflammation is rarely made.

Just what is dehydration?
What is inflammation? And more importantly, how do the two concepts affect each
other?

Dehydration

One of the most basic yet
overlooked causes of disease is dehydration. Often overlooked but second only
to oxygen in terms of importance, water is one of the most essential nutrients
to a healthy body.

When the human body is
lacking in the proper amount of water, it enters a state of dehydration. While
commonly misunderstood by both laymen and medical practitioners alike,
dehydration is believed to be a factor in every illness, injury, and even
chronic diseases.

Inflammation

Inflammation is the body’s
effort to defend itself against attackers like viruses and bacteria. It also
helps the body heal itself and repair damaged tissue after a trauma or injury.
It is designed to help your body heal by attracting white blood cells to these
areas.

However, it also has a part in many chronic diseases. Especially seen when the acute inflammation that is meant to heal continues for too long. It then becomes chronic and can lead to many long term diseases.

The list of these conditions includes Asthma, Fibromyalgia, Alzheimer’s, Ulcerative colitis (often simply referred to as UC), Rheumatoid and other forms of arthritis, Chronic sinusitis, and Crohn’s disease.

One of the main signs of inflammation is swollen tissues which are often red and warm to the touch. This most recognizably includes the joints and in chronic conditions is regularly accompanied by joint pain, stiffness, and loss of joint function.

To stop joint pain and get hydration, many are turning to drinking tart cherry juice daily. Due to the presence of anthocyanins, those drinking tart cherry juice daily enjoy lower levels of information. In addition, mixing one-ounce of cherry juice concentrate with 7 ounces of water not only tastes great but helps you to drink more water and stay hydrated.

The
Connection

While the effects of dehydration are often ignored or overlooked by medical professionals, the link between hydration and inflammation seems obvious. As described, healthy inflammation is the body’s defense against invaders such as bacteria, viruses, and toxins in the environment.

However, this defense is incomplete without the water needed to carry these negative factors out of the body. Isolating these invaders does no good if they are then left to sit within the body and allowed to fester. Which in turn, causes a repetition of the inflammation designed to remove these negative influences and increases the possibility of this inflammation becoming chronic.

While the effects of dehydration are often ignored or overlooked by medical professionals, the link between hydration and inflammation seems obvious. As described, healthy inflammation is the body’s defense against invaders such as bacteria, viruses, and toxins in the environment.

However, this defense is incomplete without the water needed to carry these negative factors out of the body. Isolating these invaders does no good if they are then left to sit within the body and allowed to fester. Which in turn, causes a repetition of the inflammation designed to remove these negative influences and increases the possibility of this inflammation becoming chronic.

This is then exacerbated by
the introduction of medications meant to help with chronic inflammation
symptoms such as pain and fever. Often these medications themselves cause
further dehydrate the system which then has the circular effect of increasing
inflammation and pain. Also, these medicines are generally dependent upon the
very water the body lacks to help them be properly distributed and effective.

While this circular
relationship between hydration and inflammation seems to make perfect sense, it
is an area that needs further research to be completely understood. Sometimes
the most obvious connections remain opaque until drawn out into the light and
having their similarities made transparent.

Keeping the body is properly
hydrated is essential to allowing healthy inflammation to do its job. It is
also a requirement for making medications meant to treat chronic inflammation
effective. Those two interactions alone unite hydration and inflammation.

It is only through the
further study of this unity that the problems caused by dehydration, chronic
inflammation, and many more health issues can be properly understood.